


we were just kids

by hollyhobbit101



Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Abusive Reginald Hargreeves, Gen, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Hurt No Comfort, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Whump, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, the mausoleum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:14:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26843461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollyhobbit101/pseuds/hollyhobbit101
Summary: Klaus only tried to escape the mausoleum once.
Relationships: Klaus Hargreeves & Reginald Hargreeves
Series: Whumptober 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947304
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	we were just kids

**Author's Note:**

> written for whumptober day 5 - failed escape

Klaus only tried to escape the mausoleum once. It was early on, before he’d given up hope that his father might stop if he knew how terrible it was in there. He’d been banging on the doors near constantly, of course, and no-one came, but he assumed that just meant Dad had gone back to the Academy.

So, if he could escape -  _ really escape - _ then he could go home and tell them all. Dad would have to believe him then, he’d have to let Klaus stop. He’d  _ have to _ .

In truth, he’d been working on the plan for weeks. It was hard work, getting the bars on the grate to move, but Klaus had an advantage in that the building was old. It was bound to crumble eventually; he was just helping it along, is all.

The ghosts howled around him as he worked, creeping ever nearer as time ticked on. The hair on the back of Klaus’s neck stood on end as he felt their chill surround him, and it took all of his focus to keep his hands from trembling. But not even the ghosts could dampen the spark of joy as two of the bars finally came loose, falling to the ground with a loud clatter. 

Klaus boosted himself up, shimmying his way through the broken grate, trying his hardest to ignore the ghostly hands clawing through his lower body. He’d almost made it to freedom when the hands suddenly grabbed into his shoulders, hauling him bodily through the grate and onto the grass.

Klaus kicked and screamed, fear seizing him at the thought that the ghosts were real now because if they were real then they could hurt him, and if they could hurt him, they could kill him, and -

“Stop this nonsense at once, Number Four!”

The hands pulled him roughly to his feet, though Klaus immediately fell back down in his scramble to  _ get away _ . He looked up, panicked gaze searching for his assailant, only to meet Reginald Hargreeves’ cold stare.

“Dad!” he gasped. He stood up on shaky legs, eyeing his father warily. “Dad, the ghosts, I -”

“I am most disappointed in you, Number Four,” his father interrupted. “I had hoped that you would have given up this foolish plan of yours and focused on what is truly important. Yet, here we stand.”

Klaus frowned, a shiver stealing through him as the wind swept past. “Y-You knew?”

“Of course I did! I observe all of your personal training sessions, just as I do with your siblings’.”

His father seemed almost affronted at the idea he would be so lax with their training, but Klaus barely heard him as he continued talking. There was a roaring in his ears different to the wind, or the lingering screams of ghosts that had followed him out of the crypt. He knew his father was a terrible person - no good man locked their children in tombs or taught them ten ways to kill someone before they hit puberty. 

And yet… Klaus had sort of wanted to believe that Dad was just oblivious rather than malicious. It hurt, to finally realise that he wasn’t.

“-and for your punishment, you will do double time tomorrow,” Reginald was saying when Klaus tuned back in. His eyes went wide and it felt as though all the breath had been knocked out of him again.

“Dad, please, no,” he begged. “Please don’t leave me in there with them, I can’t do it.”

“Fear is childish, Number Four,” he replied, voice devoid of emotion, except perhaps scorn. “You must learn to get rid of it. I will have no more ill-conceived escape attempts, do you understand?”

And Klaus, like the coward he was, wilted under his father’s stern gaze. He nodded, eyes falling to the ground, and let Reginald steer him out of the cemetery. He flinched every time a ghost got too close, and every time Klaus flinched, Reginald’s grip tightened on his shoulder, in a way that promised more punishment.

Klaus didn’t sleep that night.

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on tumblr @morganaspendragonss!


End file.
